Tag Archives: immigration

March 6, 2026 · 12:47 pm

No Concentration Camps US

The administration is buying and retrofitting warehouses across the country for mass deportation.

No Concentration Camps US (NoCCUS.org).

No Concentration Camps US is a coalition of grassroots organizers and national groups fighting these sites. Sharing resources and strategy, we’re pushing back every day.

On Christmas eve, the Trump administration announced a plan to open seven huge warehouse facilities that would act as centers for final deportation out of the country. Set to house up to ten thousand people, these concentration camps would far outsize anything the federal government has ever run for detention. The largest detention facility at Fort Bliss (known as Camp East Montana) at its highest capacity only held three thousand people and it has been riddled with charges of human rights abuses and is now rumored to be closing. Also part of the mass deportation scheme are the additional sixteen smaller warehouse sites located throughout the country. They would hold about fifteen hundred people and act as feeder sites for the massive warehouses.

Communities throughout the US are fighting back recognizing that warehouses were never intended to house people. Some fight warehouses on moral grounds and some fight from practical perspectives over how they affect neighborhoods. Broad based coalitions have united to push back and have won some significant victories. Real estate owners have refused to sell and have walked away from selling to ICE. Communities have been energized to go before city councils and demand the use of zoning and permits. People have used their right of free speech to hold rallies and protests raising awareness and demanding their elected politicians act on their behalf. Political pressure has been used to cancel warehouses in at least two incidents. Now efforts are underway to target contractors and employers doing business with ICE. More victories may be on the way. But we recognize the fight will be long and hard won.

Your support to these affected communities and on the national level make a difference. Awareness and education are key. Everyone has seen the violence on the streets in Minneapolis and elsewhere. ICE is active throughout the country. As the administration ramps up mass deportation and demands that this deportation system with warehouses becomes a reality, ICE will be forced to become even more aggressive in achieving its quotas which translates into more and more risky and violent behavior on the streets. This is not the America we want.

Your voice, your presence is needed more than ever. No Kings 3 is March 28th. No doubt the midterms will be consequential but we need you now too.

For more information about ICE warehouses, please check out http://www.NoCCUS.org

No Concentration Camps US (NoCCUS)

Once Upon a Time in America

Every day I do the social media scroll through countless postings and comments. I pause on things I’m interested in. Viewpoints I resonate with. Helpful tips. Oddball claims. But like most of you I suspect, I scroll past the vast majority bypassing the most outrageous—or not, given the day and my mood. Very little sticks. In fact, hour for hour, I can’t recall much of what I’ve actually seen. Such is social media.

Except every once in a while…

I remember recently seeing someone comment that their appearance before a town council meeting was successful because they didn’t vomit.

And that has stayed with me.

It speaks in the most immediate way to the times we are living in. How many of us, because of circumstances, are being pushed out of our comfort zones? Being propelled into action. But not just doing things. These are activities far beyond what we ever thought we were capable of. Engaging with life in purposeful way crossing previously defined boundaries of who we thought we were and how we thought we’d behave. We believed that life was a certain way and we reacted to it. We expressed ourselves allowing that these parameters were fixed. Ah, but we learned that those constraints were artificial and as they began to tighten, we had to redefine ourselves. Not everyone did though. Uncomfortably for us, some liked the constriction and applauded it. Even as our souls cried out, they begged for more. Independence was never a core part of their identity but safety at any cost was something they could always get behind.

We were never alike but we lived together during better times.

But now, they are scooping up brown people and putting them in cages. It makes them feel safe. Of course, they don’t use those words…

Some of us are protesting in the streets (not nearly enough of us), appearing before city councils, writing letters to elected officials, recording ICE activities, and countless other things to push back. Because we have lived during better times. When we look back, we know America was never that great and when we look forward, we see the future in terms of what it could be. An unexpressed promise of a dream of better, never achieved but always dangled to move as toward an ideal.

This week I wrote, “No Kings 3, March 28th” in chalk in the park several times. An impermanent bulletin board for those scared and too afraid. I wish more Americans would rise up. The next day, one of the writings was obliterated but three remained. Once upon a time in America.

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February 6, 2026 · 5:53 pm

No Concentration Camps US

The Trump administration has begun activating a plan to modify and retrofit 23 warehouse sites throughout the US for the purpose of mass detention. No Concentration Camps US is a coalition of activists across the country who have come together to resist and oppose this. Through non-violent action, the group shares resources and strategy to fight back at the community level.

Grassroots activists are invited to email: noconcentrationcampsus@gmail.com.

CONCENTRATION CAMPS 3.0

While most of us were finishing our shopping, wrapping presents, or kicking back with a glass of eggnog, the Washington Post broke a story on Christmas Eve, let’s call it Concentration Camps 3.0.

Recall earlier in the year, we had the first renderings of Stephen Miller’s brainchild Concentration Camps 1.0 in which ICE planned to open formerly defunct prisons across the country to incarcerate detainees in the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan. Then in October, ICE pivoted to a soft-sided structure idea involving six states that would get huge facilities like Alligator Alcatraz and the Fort Bliss monstrosities. But that soon attracted Congressional attention necessitating a GAO report on how ICE does business and spends money (still not published, but one interview given in December by a GAO official was not flattering).

Articles circulated prior to the Washington Post report that ICE was eyeing warehouses along the border with Mexico as a final stop for detainees before deportation out of the US. And now, we have arrived at ICE’s new scheme, 3.0. Allegedly up to 80,000 detainees could be accommodated under this new part of ICE’s operation and the warehouse notion has apparently become the prevailing scheme. Under this plan, seven large scale warehouses will function as holding facilities presumably before final deportation. These mega structures will be capable of holding between 5000-10,000 people. The seven centers are:

Hutchins, TX
Baytown, TX
Glendale, AZ
Hammond, LA
Social Circle, GA
Kansas City, MO
Stafford, VA

These seven deportation hubs will be fed by fifteen smaller warehouse detention facilities spread throughout the country. The smaller warehouses, sometimes referred to as “quick processing centers” will hold between 500 and 1500 people. ICE plans currently mention the following sites for the smaller warehouse structures:

Los Fresnos, TX
El Paso, TX
San Antonio, TX
Jefferson, GA
Port Allen, LA
Oklahoma City, OK
Jupiter, FL
Salt Lake City, UT
Highland Park, MI
Merrillville, IN
Woodbury, MN
Hagerstown, MD
Tremont, PA
Roxbury, NJ
Merrimack, NH

Interestingly, the six states targeted in the soft-sided 2.0 plan will all receive a warehouse except for Kansas. Instead, Kansas City, Missouri becomes the chosen location. Also notice that Colorado has not been targeted in the warehouse scheme. Our closest warehouses would be in Salt Lake City and Kansas City.

We could speculate on why this structure is being advanced and there certainly is a case to be made that ICE’s plans are evolving due to real-world problems with existing soft-sided facilities and political resistance to the administration’s expansion of detention. It’s likely that the warehouse structure affords a kind of physical protection from the elements that soft-sided facilities did not. Contractors are also not tasked with the complete construction of building sites and whole buildings which can take years. But contractors will have to custom retrofit each site. And it appears that ICE is currently looking for a new set of contractors to do this work.

Will ICE build Concentration Camps 3.0 or will we see another version come to pass? Who knows? It seems that versions 1.0 and 2.0 have been set aside in favor of the warehouse idea. Keeping in mind that ICE already has a detention system that currently holds a record 68,000 people, the introduction of this new plan could more than double their bed count.

We are fortunate that the news media has uncovered the places ICE has in mind for these warehouse sites. There are things we can do in Colorado to fight against this expansion. We can reach out to other activist and resistance organizations to build a national network in the fight against mass deportation. Offering resources and partnering in ongoing efforts can build strong alliances that over time successfully help defeat fascism.

ICE plans to hold 80,000 immigrants in warehouses across the country – The Washington Post

Report: Over 80K migrants to be housed in ICE warehouses throughout US

My books can be found here:

BOOKS

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Tagged as abuses in detention, concentration camps, concentration camps in the US, deortation, detention, detention centers, Donald Trump Fascist, Ellis Nelson, fascism, fascism in America, government, human rights abuses, ICE abuse, ICE as paramilitary organization, ICE to build concentration camps in the US, ICE warehouse plan, ICE warehouses, immigration, news, No Concentration Camps in Colorado, politics, soft-sided concentration camps, soft-sided detention centers, soft-sided detention facilities, Stephen Miller, Stephen MIller's mass deportation plan, Stephen Miller's racial purity agenda, trump

December 23, 2025 · 12:44 pm

“So this is Christmas.

And what have you done?”

John Lennon’s lyrics come to mind every year at this time forcing a review of a year fast to be in the rear-view mirror. So much of 2025 has involved a total reorientation. The November election of 2024 sent me into a tailspin causing the scrapping of every single plan I had envisioned. But that happened to many of us, and I suspect a good lot of us are still trying to figure out where our lives are heading. Fast change with no time to adjust has become normal. We grab a headline here and there, try to grasp its significance, only to realize we missed something even bigger. About the time we’ve gotten hold of the new reality of yesterday’s events (or was that last week??), something else drops and we’re left struggling with those ramifications. The ground is never solid and the landscape never clear, still the clock ticks and the days move forward.

My reorientation this year pulled me into the world of activism. Protests, letter writing, research, networking, putting myself out there in ways that feel unfamiliar, and yet somehow undeniably right. Learning how to letter posters has never come in handier. Thank you, Mrs. Mattice from HS Art! I have a huge collection of signs from various protest events I attended this year.

The homeowners’ association weighed in on just one protest effort this week. It concerns the photo at the top of this blog. That five-by-five-foot banner hung over the third bay garage space drew a demand for removal. Apparently a disgruntled MAGA neighbor made a complaint. I’m glad it irritated someone because that means it’s getting noticed. That’s the point of protest. To push back, to challenge, to bring the unsaid into the world, ultimately to produce change.

A few of those unsaid (or not said enough) things:

Being undocumented is a civil offense not a criminal one. (MAGA just can’t get this in their heads!!)

The Trump administration is building a mass deportation system of historic proportions. Henchman Stephen Miller has masterminded this well-funded, racially motivated program to make America white again. To do this, ICE has become a lawless, battle-ready band of untrained thugs.

There are currently over 68,000 people in ICE detention (as of mid-Dec 2025, Guardian report). The administration has arrested more than 328,000 and deported nearly 327,000.

And Trump continues to lie about deporting “the worst of the worst.” Most of those detained have no criminal record. Of the 25% with a criminal charge, most involve minor offenses like traffic violations. In fact, there just aren’t enough criminals to round up to make Stephen Miller’s quotas. Therefore, ICE hits the streets going after anybody who happens to appear other than white, or speak a language other than English.

To facilitate mass deportation, and house record numbers of detainees, the administration is eyeing buying warehouses and fitting them out with makeshift shelter structures. Detention facilities have been the subject of many reports of human rights abuses including lack of edible food, potable water, overcrowding, lack of sanitation and lack of medical care. Already this year there have been 30 deaths in ICE detention, the single deadliest year in decades.

There’s a link at the bottom for an article that gives a good overview on where things stand. There’s no doubt I’ll be working on these issues in 2026. It’s my hope that sometime over the holidays, you’ll pause to think about those in detention. Think about those around you who are vulnerable or who have been made vulnerable by the actions of MAGA and this president. Consider ways you might be able to intercede. 2026 will continue to challenge us in ever more persistent and direct ways. I implore you to not shrink from responsibility but to shoulder it bravely and boldly.

“So this is Christmas. And what have you done?”

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/trump-immigrant-detention

MY BOOKS:

BOOKS

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November 1, 2025 · 3:47 pm

Think Alligator Alcatraz on Steroids!

ICE announces a new policy of opening mega, soft-sided detention centers across the country. Work begins in a month with these six states as the focus: UT, KS, PA, IN, GA, and LA.

2 Articles:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/looking-to-speed-up-building-network-of-migrant-detention-centers-trump-administration-turns-to-the-us-navy/ar-AA1P5k7s?ocid=BingNewsSerp

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-dhs-navy-migrant-detention-center-contracts-b2851925.html

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Tagged as $10B funneled to Navy, Alligator Alcatraz, concentration camps, concentration camps in the US, CoreCivic, deportation, detention, detention centers, DHS, Ellis Nelson, fascist regime, GEO Group, ICE, ICE abuse, ICE as paramilitary organization, ICE bed capacity, ICE capacity doubles, ICE detention centers, ICE expansion, ICE in a fascist regime, ICE in GA, ICE in IN, ICE in KS, ICE in LA, ICE in PA, ICE in Utah, ICE policies, ICE raids, ICE to build concentration camps in the US, immigration, Kristi Noem, mass deportation, plans to build concentration camps in the US, racial discrimination, scapegoating minorities, soft-sided concentration camps, soft-sided detention facilities, Stephen Miller, Stephen MIller's mass deportation plan, Stephen Miller's racial purity agenda

September 25, 2025 · 11:49 am

Is ICE Coming to Your Town?

In mid-August the Washington Post broke an important story about Stephen Miller ramping up his mass deportation scheme. All over the country, ICE is eyeing defunct prisons and slowly re-opening some of them. Some communities have tried to fight these re-openings. Some see dollar signs and roll-over, often thinking they have no grounds to stop the feds making contracts with private companies like GEO and Core-Civic.

ICE’s new plan will double detention capacity to over 100,000 people and spread detention centers into new areas of the country. Fueled by the $45 Billion from the Big Beautiful Bill, ICE will hire 10,000 new employees and expand existing and soft-sided detention centers (like Alligator Alcatraz). Of special note is the impending growth in family detention facilities that the administration has said is its preferred method of deporting families. Apparently, we should expect to see a lot more of this in 2026 and onward.

In Colorado, ICE seems to be planning to open up to three new sites: Walsenburg, Hudson, and Ignacio. Reporting from Walsenburg indicates that their mayor is all in for ICE to come to town. He expects an economic boom. The problem is that there’s a body of research that suggests that prisons don’t actually lead to economic growth. The research indicates that employment growth doesn’t happen. Towns with prisons have lower retail sales, lower wages, and slower housing growth compared to towns without prisons. Property values decline near the prison with a shift to lower income households. Any jobs the prison might bring in generally go to senior people already in the system (or company). People in these small rural towns where ICE wants to re-open a defunct prison often don’t have the skillsets required to be hired. One study showed that prison employees commuted twice as far as other workers indicating prison workers often don’t reside in the communities where the prison is located.

And those wonderful economic benefits that are sure to flow back into a community with a prison? They just don’t materialize. A prison (or ICE detention facility) operates as a unique business model, a self-sustaining entity that takes care of its own food, laundry, maintenance, security, transportation, etc. It doesn’t link into the community to buy things or stimulate local businesses the way any other kind of operation might. In addition, prison or detainee labor can compete and crowd out local competition for services in the community.

And then there are the costs that local taxpayers would be required to bear to have the “privilege” of being stigmatized with having a morally repugnant entity in town. It’s a shame that so many towns have already had ICE reactivate these centers. More are scheduled to open unless something changes and changes fast.

For more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2miN1ltrOUc&t=18s

ICE documents reveal plans to double immigrant detention space by 2026 – The Washington Post Washington Post, 15 Aug 2025, “ICE Documents Reveal Plans to Double Immigration Detention Space by 2026” by Douglas MacMillan, N. Kirkpatrick, and Lydia Sidhom

•So You Think a New Prison Will Save Your Town? | The Marshall Project The Marshall Report, 6-14-2016, Tom Meagher & Christie Thompson

•ACLU: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration (Nov 2, 2011) bankingonbondage_web.pdf p. 20-22: Scant Economic Benefit for Local Communities

•Revisiting the Impact of Prison Building on Job Growth: Education, Incarceration, and County‐Level Employment, 1976–2004* – Hooks – 2010 – Social Science Quarterly – Wiley Online Library

•The Local Economic Impacts of Prisons | The Review of Economics and Statistics | MIT Press Nov 7, 2024, The Review of Economics and Statistics (2024) 106 (6): 1442–1459.

•The Development of Last Resort: The Impact of New State Prisons on Small Town Economies, Terry L. Besser and Margaret M. Hanson, Iowa State University (paper under review at the Journal of the Community Development Society) Microsoft Word – Besser Hanson CDS 04.doc

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June 8, 2025 · 11:03 am

NO KINGS DAY Protest: June 14, 2025

In light of what’s going on in LA and everything else, we need everyone on the streets for this march. Find your local march (by zip code) at https://www.nokings.org

Check out the downloadable artwork under Art then Posters.

BTW- Everyone needs to watch the use of language in media/government sources now. Especially, note if “riot” replaces “protest”. It is a common ploy by fascism to weaponize language to escalate tensions and then call for “law and order”.

They also have great resources like trainings here:

https://www.nokings.org/trainings

Safety & De-escalation: June 8th, 4PM Zoom

Disappeared in America: June 9, 8PM Zoom

Remember self-care as we carry on this fight!

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Tag Archives: immigration

No Concentration Camps US

The administration is buying and retrofitting warehouses across the country for mass deportation.

Once Upon a Time in America

No Concentration Camps US

CONCENTRATION CAMPS 3.0

Think Alligator Alcatraz on Steroids!

Is ICE Coming to Your Town?

NO KINGS DAY Protest: June 14, 2025

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